This week's game is Effacer: Hangman from the 25th Century, and like the title implies, it's Hangman in spaaaaace! The gameplay is exactly as you'd expect, but the premise results in some unusual flavor with goofy aliens and charming CD-i aesthetics.
As the blurb up there says, Effacer is a game that gets by on the general vibe it gives off. Mechanically, it really is just Hangman with no exciting spins or twists, but one look at this game and it's easy to see why it's worth a bit of a look despite that. They could have just played it straight, but instead, they crafted an entire world and lore to give you a bizarre excuse to play Hangman. In Effacer, Hangman is a means to determine the guilt or innocence of alien criminals who have committed word crimes of some kind like using hyphens or double negatives incorrectly and whether you win or lose determines whether they die or not. It's a pretty ridiculous legal system, but one that comes off as genuinely inspired. There aren't too many aliens and they repeat quickly, but each one gets a voiced backstory that's adorably ridiculous (like a ruler who used so many puns that his people revolted against him) and they're worth checking out the game for alone. You probably won't spend much time with this one, but even a quick sampling has enough to offer thanks to the creativity and endlessly charming CD-i vibes on offer.
